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Back Issue #127

One distinguishing characteristic of the truly awful sex work story is its use of inane, annoying and dysphemistic language to pretend that sex work is “dirty”, “seedy”, titillating, lurid or otherwise fundamentally different from other kind of work.  –  “Case Study

Every young generation loves to think it invented extramarital sex, and every older generation loves to condemn them as though it were really true.  –  “All Wet

Law enforcement loves to [claim]…they’re rescuing us.  They’re only rescuing us from being able to pay our bills.  –  “Printed To Fit

Our profession truly is the oldest one on Earth. Older than the pyramids, older than cities.  Older even than Homo Sapiens …We are as eternal as the sea; our enemies are mere insects, who annoy for a season and are then gone.
–  “For My Sisters

The nation’s mainstream press…argue about what size Cinderella’s glass slippers were and consult “experts” about what Teletubbies eat for breakfast.  –  “On Tape

Trying to hide or disguise [my] personality would’ve been almost as difficult as trying to get a new head.  –  “Being Maggie

 

In the News (#1407)

There aren’t just piles of fentanyl powder out in parks.  –  Ryan Marino

Hot Mess Alabama

Alabama is still trying to make up for its late start by violently spewing “sex trafficking” idiocy most other states have quietly dropped:

…the Sound of Freedom Act would institute the “toughest law in the nation” for human trafficking of minors…Named after the 2023 [propaganda] film of the same name [which glorifies a con artist and serial rapist], the Sound of Freedom Act would institute an automatic life sentence for anyone convicted of trafficking a victim under the age of 18.  Under the bill, it would not be required that the [target have actually committed an actual crime] to be given a life sentence…

Unchristian Nation (#1339)

Government at every level crusades against Christian charity:

…an…Ohio pastor…[was] issued 18 zoning law violations [for] keeping his church open to people who needed a warm place to sleep…Chris Avell, pastor of Dad’s Place in Bryan, Ohio…kept his church open 24/7 to provide warmth to the unhoused…[but] Ohio law prohibits residential use in first-floor buildings in a business district…the city…[sent] Avell…a letter on Nov. 3 [demand]ing…he [obey Caesar rather than God]…and during a New Year’s Eve service, police arrived and issued violations…Jeremy Dys, Avell’s attorney, [said]…“The city would rather kick these folks to the curb in…December and…January than allow the church to remain open…to those who need it the most”…

Panopticon (#1342)

If there’s a camera, cops will conscript it for use as a surveillance tool:

A food delivery robot company that delivers for Uber Eats in Los Angeles provided video filmed by one of its robots to [LAPD]…The incident highlights the fact that delivery robots that are being deployed to sidewalks all around the country are essentially always filming, and that their footage can and has been [handed to the pigs without even asking for a warrant]…The specific incident in question was a grand larceny case where two men tried (and failed) to steal a robot owned and operated by Serve Robotics, which ultimately wants to deploy “up to 2,000 robots” to deliver food for UberEats [while collaborating with the pigs]…

To Molest and Rape (#1363)

Some rapist cops are indiscriminate in their choice of victim:

A [typical and representative] Baton Rouge [cop who] was charged [last August for child molestation has now been charged with] rape [of an adult woman]…Demichael Robertson…rape[d the woman]…in December 2022…[but she was afraid to report him until she heard about the child molestation charge]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1399)

Prohibitionists believe that outright, blatant lying is an acceptable means of advancing their authoritarian agenda:

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office has pulled down a p[ropaganda] announcement from its website [attempting to terrify voters with scary tales] about the painkiller fentanyl…an…audio spot…[claimed a six-year-old named Lindsey saw] some white powder [at a playground] and touched it…[and then instantly dropped dead].  But, it’s not based on anything real…”It’s impossible…touching powder fentanyl cannot cause an overdose in any way,” said Dr. Ryan Marino…a medical toxicologist…and addiction medicine specialist…”What a crazy amount of misinformation”…the DA [was unapologetic and said]…”I am not concerned about…[lying if it advances the police state]. Period.  I am not”…[but] “Lindsey’s Story” disappeared from the DA’s website shortly after [reporters] inquired about it…

Shame, Shame (#1405)

The latest internet-wrecking censorship attempt from self-important clowns who actually think fake nude pictures are worse than totalitarianism:

…the…No AI FRAUD…Act…would…create…a right to sue someone who uses your likeness or voice without your permission…the…agreement must involve a lawyer, and its terms must be governed by a collective bargaining agreement…it applies to the voices and depictions of all human beings “living or dead”…it defines…Likeness [as] any “actual or simulated image… regardless of the means of creation, that is readily identifiable as the individual”…These definitions…[are] broad enough to include reenactments in a true-crime show, a parody TikTok account…depictions of a historical figure in a movie…sketch-comedy skits, political cartoons…memes…or a cartoon like South Park or Family Guy including a depiction of a celebrity.  And it doesn’t matter if the intent is not to trick anyone…What’s more, it’s not just the creators…that could be sued.  Potentially liable parties include anyone …who “publishes, performs, distributes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to the public…[an imita]tion”…This is broad enough to ensnare social media platforms, video platforms, newsletter services, web hosting services, and any entity that enables the sharing of art, entertainment, and commentary.  It also applies to the makers of tools that merely allow others to create…[imita]tions…

To Molest and Rape (#1406)

In which “sex with minors” is used to mean “raping young children”:

San Antonio [cop]…Albert Sanchez [wa]s charged with possession or promotion of child pornography after he admitted to a witness that he was [raping prepubescent children]…“both male and female”…Sanchez was immediately [rewarded with a paid vacation after]…a search…[of his] cellphone…found multiple explicit pictures of [children]…younger than 10…

When the state or its pet media want to infantilize young adults, they are referred to as “children”.  But when they want to downplay a cop’s horrendous crimes, prepubescent children become “minors” and “juveniles”, as though they were 16 or 17.

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to [email protected] or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

Diary #708

Last Tuesday, I went to town to buy a replacement filter for our heater; Grace checked the websites for Wal-mart, Home Depot, and Ace hardware, and told me all three carried the correct one.  So naturally I assumed I could just pick one up and we’d be back in business.  Silly me; when I got to Wal-mart (where I needed other things anyhow), I was informed that the item was only available online.  So before I went driving all over town looking for it at the other places, I had Grace call them to talk to actual human beings; Ace stopped carrying them several years ago, and Home Depot was out.  We could easily order more filters from Amazon, but I didn’t want to wait until they arrived to take a damned shower, so we decided to simply buy a bolt to use as a plug.  Good idea, but Home Depot had nothing with a coarse thread, nor did the nearby plumbing supply store; fortunately, the guy there suggested a hydraulic parts dealer, and he had it.  Total cost (uncluding the teflon tape) under three bucks, and we got to take hot showers until the filters came in on Friday.  But after we replaced the plug with a new filter, I stowed this inside the pipe housing so the next time a hard freeze is predicted, we can pre-emptively remove the filter until the danger is past.

Definitely Not Twee

 

Links #707

All I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets.  –  Donald Trump

When I first mentioned this cartoon in “My Favorite Short Films” almost 12 years ago, it was only available on the National Film Board of Canada website.  But since that has changed, here it is.  The links above it were provided by Greg Lukianoff, Franklin Harris, C.J. Ciaramella (x2), Mike Masnick, Lucy Steigerwald, and Jesse Walker, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to [email protected] or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

In the News (#1406)

What workers want most in today’s economy is flexibility. – Jarrett Dieterle

If Men Were Angels

“Children’s minister” blames porn and Satan for his crimes:

A Wyoming children’s minister admitted he couldn’t be left alone with kids after he molested a young girl during his Christmas vacation in Florida…Richard Scott Shaw…told cops he “gave into temptation” when he…groped…a…12 year…old [girl]…on two separate occasions…Shaw…confessed to [her mother], but claimed it was [somehow] an accident….[then tried to blame an imaginary “]pornography addiction[“.  As if that weren’t enough hypocrisy for one incident, psychopathic clown]…Grady Judd [had the nerve to say of someone other than himself]…“This guy is an evil person”…

To Molest and Rape

It was just a big “whoopsie”:

A Pennsylvania [cop] who…rape[d a woman he knows]…a[bsur]dly told his victim the assault was an accident…Justin Hain…was in the [woman’s] home…and after she came out of the shower, he…ripped off her towel and ignored her pleas for him to stop…when the victim called Hain the next day to ask him why he attacked her, he said, “I didn’t intentionally rape you”…

To Molest and Rape (#997) 

A sadly typical outcome when a high-ranking cop is the rapist:

A Philadelphia [cop] who…[repeatedly] sexually assault[ed] three [female cops] has been reinstated after charges were dropped in all three cases…Carl Holmes Jr….will return to his previous rank…[after] prosecutors dropped the last of three sexual assault cases against Holmes due to the…[department successfully intimidating] key witness[es]…

Confined and Controlled (#1258)

“Progressives” want everyone forced to work for bosses and managers:

The federal government…is coming to rescue [gig workers] from their own choices.  The Department of Labor [has] announced new rules…that will limit the circumstances in which workers can be classified as independent contractors…unleashing federal bureaucrats to micromanage the decisions that those workers have already made for themselves….[via] a vague six-part test…Those determined to be employees will be forcibly reclassified even if they do not want to be.  And many seemingly don’t…78 percent [of gig workers a]re satisfied with their jobs…and…most value…the flexibility to set their own schedules or earn small amounts of extra cash on the side…only about 10 percent…desire…a more traditional job while nearly 80 percent intend…to keep freelancing…While the new rule will “reverberate” across a variety of industries where independent contractor work is common—including health care, construction, and food service…the real target of the…policy seems to be…platforms like Uber and DoorDash…[which are] widely expected [to]…sue…the Department of Labor…

Shifting the Blame (#1384)

How many women died as a result of inaction by this murderer’s cop buddies?

Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect Rex Heuermann has been charged with the murder of a fourth woman, whose remains were found on…Long Island in 2010…Maureen Brainard-Barnes…vanished in 2007…and…is believed by police to be the first victim [of] what [are] known as the “Gilgo Four”…

Served Cold (#1392)

Tim Ballard’s downfall is increasingly satisfying:

Celeste Borys, one of the women suing Tim Ballard, flew to California with her lawyer last week to file criminal complaints…[because Ballard] sexually assaulted her in…San Diego, San Clemente, the San Jose suburb of Campbell, and…Los Angeles…


To Molest and Rape (Rapists of the Week #4)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

 Andrew Menendez, a [typical and representative West Virginia cop] who…sexually abus[ed] a 15-year-old, was found guilty by a jury…He…must register as a sex offender and…faces up to 20 years in prison…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to [email protected] or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

Minarchy, Monarchy

For over 40 years now I’ve pointed out that for an ethical, morally-sound government, a monarchy is just as good as a republic because it doesn’t have enough power over ordinary people’s lives for the identity of the “rulers” to matter.  In fact, for a proper, minimal government which protects the rights of individuals and enforces contracts, but stays out of most everything else, monarchy might actually be better because it consumes far fewer valuable resources and far less irreplaceable time.  Also, one person is simply not capable of sticking his nose into as many other people’s business as a vaste horde of politicians is, thus better for liberty.  The entire reason people care so much about how the rulers get chosen is that they are far too powerful; everyone wants to have a say in who gets to stick their noses into other peoples’ business and send unaccountable goon squads to inflict violence upon innocent people who simply want to be left alone.  But if nobody gets to pry into affairs that are none of their business and unccountable goon squads are constitutionally prohibited, what damn difference does it make who gets to wear the Grand Exalted Poobah hat and spend his days dealing with tedious administrative paperwork?

It isn’t at all surprising that evangelical feminists conspire with evangelical Christians to make normal people’s lives as miserable as possible; they’ve been doing it for as long as there’s been such a thing as “feminism”.  –  “Feminists and Other Puritans

I personally could wreck the careers of a dozen politicians.  And there are roughly half a million whores in the US.
–  “In the News (#704)

I’m really getting pretty damned sick of the infantile “enthusiastic consent” trope, which promotes a fairy-tale view of human sexuality in which the only possible reason for having sex is “fun”, the only acceptable form of consent is throwing oneself into sex with the wild and totally senseless abandon of a teenage wererabbit on coke, and all enjoyment of the act must be “fair” and “equal” (but how something so subjective is to be measured, we aren’t told).  –  “Candyland

The prohibitionist sexual fantasy of “pimps” hanging out at every playground is so sick that one has to wonder how anyone higher on the evolutionary scale than a cop could possibly take it seriously.  –  “Raising Ignorance

In the News (#1405)

Humans are so afraid of the void that we can’t let what has fallen into it stay there.  –  Kelly Carlin

Comfort Zone (#1005)

Behold the fruit of the “human trafficking” narrative:

An estimated 18 people a day died or disappeared while trying to reach the shores of Spain last year…The 6,618 people who died included 384 children…The figure is nearly triple that of the previous year, making 2023 the deadliest year on record since [human rights] organisation [Caminando Fronteras] began keeping track in 2007…The report, which combines reports from the relatives of people who died or went missing with official rescue statistics, linked the steep rise in deaths to efforts to curb migration.  As border control is tightened across the Mediterranean and along the coasts of countries such as Senegal and Mauritania, people have increasingly set their sights on reaching the Canary Islands, setting off on one of the world’s deadliest migration routes in unstable vessels that are often unfit to face the fierce currents of the Atlantic…

Cops and Robbers (#1287)

If these fanatics concentrated on cops and preachers, they’d be a help rather than a menace:

A [typical and representative] San Diego Co[p] who was arrested after an online video surfaced claiming he was trying to meet with minors for sex was sentenced…to two years of probation. The…[vid of] Luis Rios…[was made by a club calling themselves] People V. Preds…[who fantasy role-play] as minors [online], then attempt to meet with adults who arrange for sexual encounters and [make]…video [of them to get pageviews and “likes” online].  Group members [claim] Rios engaged in sexually explicit conversations with a…[club member fantasy role-playing as a 15-year-old] and then attempted to meet with [the member] in public…

Served Cold (#1375)

Tim Ballard’s partners in profiteering are trying to salvage as much of the scam as possible:

[For the past few months] OUR has promoted a clear and consistent message: Its ties to Ballard—by now a named defendant in a number of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct and the subject of at least one criminal inquiry—are in the past…[but] Jeff Frazier, the man currently tasked with rebuilding OUR—which commands tens of millions of dollars and still enjoys a strong reputation with [gullible] donors despite its many scandals—is a longtime associate of Ballard’s who still refers to him as a friend…and…OUR’s board is, at least for now, still entirely composed of relatives and close friends of Ballard’s…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1383)

Maybe politicians should check with bureaucrats before putting words in their mouths:

Last year, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed an age verification law that makes broad, specious claims about porn as a public health crisis…sites must display a warning, in at least 14 point font, from Texas Health and Human Services claiming that pornography is addictive and weakens brain function, among a list of other catastrophic physical and social harms…These claims aren’t just unscientific and unproven.  Texas Health and Human Services Commission…has nothing to do with them…in response to a public records request from 404 Media, the agency [reported] that it has no records of communicating [with politicians] about the warning or about this law in any official capacity…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1391)

I’m surprised Florida took so long to join the nitwit parade:

Florida could join the [currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade us]ing…children…[as a pretext to spy on adults’ use of] pornography online under…[the cloak of] age verification…With this move, Florida is following the [parade] of Virginia, Louisiana, Utah, Montana, Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas and Mississippi

Thought Control (#1397)

Just keep plunging that ice pick in; the bad thoughts will go away eventually:

The Escambia County School District…in…Florida…has [purg]ed several dictionaries from its library shelves over concerns that…the[y]…violate Florida law.  The American Heritage Children’s Dictionary, Webster’s Dictionary for Students, and Merriam-Webster’s Elementary Dictionary are among more than 2800 books that have been pu[rg]ed from Escambia County school libraries and [hidden]…the [purged] books…[also] include eight different encyclopedias, two thesauruses, and five editions of The Guinness Book of World Records…most of these [were purged due to demands by] Vicki Baggett, a [religious fanatic who teaches] high school English…in the county [and] is responsible for hundreds of [Florida] challenges…She also…was involved in a scheme t[o sic the pigs on]…a librarian in a neighboring county

Shame, Shame (#1398)

The word “ghoulish” leaps immediately to mind:

More than 15 years after his death, stand-up comedian George Carlin has been [ripped off] in a…[computer]-generated special called George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead.  The hour-long [show] comes from Dudesy, a comedy AI that hosts a podcast and YouTube show with Mad TV alum Will Sasso and podcaster Chad Kultgen….Kelly Carlin, the late stand-up comedian’s daughter, posted a statement on…Twitter [last week, writing]…“Here’s an idea, how about we give some actual living human comedians a listen to? But if you want to listen to the genuine George Carlin, he has 14 specials that you can find anywhere.”

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to [email protected] or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!